Netflix will pay Comcast to ensure its movies and TV shows are streamed more smoothly to the telecom giant’s customers, under a new agreement brokered by the two companies and reported first by The Wall Street Journal today.

The arrangement — that appears to allow the “House of Cards” maker new, direct access to Comcast’s network — should provide a technical boost to Netflix and its customers, who have been experiencing slower video streams for months. It also comes days after Comcast announced its plans to buy Time Warner Cable for more than $45 billion, but the WSJ reported the Netflix talks preceded news of the merger.

At the same time, the new Comcast-Netflix truce arrives just as the FCC begins to rethink its net neutrality rules, which were essentially quashed in court earlier this year. Netflix long had been a major player in that debate, fearing that Internet providers could slow down its bandwidth-hungry video streaming service. It’s not clear how the deal might impact Netflix’s position in the fight or its business relationships with other Internet companies.

“Working collaboratively over many months, the companies have established a more direct connection between Netflix and Comcast, similar to other networks, that’s already delivering an even better user experience to consumers, while also allowing for future growth in Netflix traffic,” the companies explained in a release Sunday. “Netflix receives no preferential network treatment under the multi-year agreement, terms of which are not being disclosed.”

yeah, it's not like they were sharing bandwidth or cutting their bandwidth at all... They were using a 3rd party to rent the connection since they wouldn't pay for a direct link.. and now they're paying less for a connection. The reason Comcast thought they needed to pay was they were using a ton of bandwidth and it wasn't "sharing" since all the bandwidth was going one way. The deal comes on the heels of Comcast buying Time Warner and since Time Warner wouldn't stream Netflix on their cable boxes, you have new customers about to try netflix for the first time and if you have low bandwidth and poor quality when someone tries it, they won't stay subscribed. It's a win for both parties. Comcast gets to offer something new to customers, and Netflix can pick up millions of subscribers.

February 24th, 2014, 10:54 am

Blueskies

QB Coach - Brian Callahan

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 3121

Re: Netflix, Comcast cut deal for smoother service

Also, Netflix isn't threatened by net neutrality, neither is Amazon, or any other service that has millions and millions of loyal customers.

The real threat is to start-up firms. Imagine Google building up Fiber, then blocking Vimeo.

February 24th, 2014, 11:02 am

TheRealWags

Megatron

Joined: December 31st, 2004, 9:55 amPosts: 12534

Re: Netflix, Comcast cut deal for smoother service

Blueskies wrote:

Actually, this doesn't really have anything to do with net neutrality; it's more complicated than that:

If Comcast and other ISPs had every shown good faith with regard to upgrading their networks and providing good customer service, I'd be more inclined to not worry about this. But the fact is that ISPs in the US are historically terrible. When Google Fiber was only being talked about, Time Warner, Comcast, and other ISPs gave statements that customers don't want/need super fast internet. Then, when Google Fiber launches and people flocked to it, suddenly Comcast et al offered better speeds at lower prices. The ISPs are essentially a monopoly (or at best a duopoly), and they've had zero incentive to offer good service. In most places, you have 1 option for high speed internet. It's a joke. Especially having lived overseas for a bit now and witnessed the difference in speeds. For example, I currently live in London and have Virgin Media fiber at my apartment. I pay around $50/month for internet at 60 Mbps. Compare with Comcast and they currently offer a 50 Mbps for anywhere from $60-$80 depending where you live, and you get to deal with Comcast's notoriously bad service. That's not a subjective statement either. They are actually rated as one of the worst companies in the US by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. I think you can basically lump them in with airlines, the IRS, and politicians in terms of popularity.

_________________"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” - Neil deGrasse Tyson

February 24th, 2014, 12:02 pm

Blueskies

QB Coach - Brian Callahan

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 3121

Re: Netflix, Comcast cut deal for smoother service

While Comcast TV sucks, I've never had anything but good experiences with their Internet. Right now, I pay $40/mo for 50 down/10 up and usually it runs faster than that.

Ultimately, the ISP issue is just a problem with no easy answers. The reason why there isn't much competition is because investing in and maintaining the infrastructure isn't cheap, and comparing it to other countries isn't fair, because they don't have our population density (lack thereof).

Everyone wants to praise Google, but the truth is, they would have far more incentive than Comcast to screw with your Internet. Can you imagine Google throttling traffic to its many competitors -- Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, etc? A nightmare.

February 24th, 2014, 12:28 pm

njroar

Team MVP

Joined: September 25th, 2007, 3:20 amPosts: 3262

Re: Netflix, Comcast cut deal for smoother service

Yeah, the infrastructure is the biggest issue. Verizon installed all the fiber here long before broadband was available and then Adelphia, had to lease the lines from Verizon to run theirs, Comcast buys this area, swaps another and the cost is always passed on. If everyone was dealing with a local cable company that installed it's own lines, you'd see cheaper prices, but each company has run lines in different areas and they charge each other for usage which ends up raising prices across the board because they all want access in each market. Net neutrality isn't going to happen because it's not about access, it's about the $$.

It's a long read, so for those that prefer a quick summary, here's the paragraph that I think sums it all up:

So there’s the entire problem, expressed in four simple ideas: the internet is a utility, there is zero meaningful competition to provide that utility to Americans, all internet providers should be treated equally, and the FCC is doing a miserably ineffective job. The United States should lead the world in broadband deployment and speeds: we should have the lowest prices, the best service, and the most competition. We should have the freest speech and the loudest voices, the best debate and the soundest policy. We are home to the most innovative technology companies in the world, and we should have the broadband networks to match.

We should stop f*cking it up.

_________________"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” - Neil deGrasse Tyson

February 26th, 2014, 7:51 am

Blueskies

QB Coach - Brian Callahan

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 3121

Re: Netflix, Comcast cut deal for smoother service

The US is too vast to ever be wired for fiber Internet.

The future for the US is 5G wireless networks. Samsung has already shown it can put out phones that are capable of receiving Google Fiber-Internet speeds. I believe those will achieve market penetration long before the majority of US cities are wired for fiber Internet. 10 years from now, I think a lot of people will get their home Internet from Sprint or Dish Network rather than Comcast.